


Let There Be Light

by QuietLittleVoices



Series: The Other Side [5]
Category: King Falls AM (Podcast)
Genre: Alternate Universe - The X Files, M/M, Sort of? each fic embodies that less and less, X Files Canon Typical Weirdness
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-06
Updated: 2018-08-06
Packaged: 2019-06-22 20:33:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 10,395
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15590172
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/QuietLittleVoices/pseuds/QuietLittleVoices
Summary: Ben was quiet for a moment. “Why can’t we just look, Sammy?” he asked softly. “Just go to King Falls and focus on it for a few days. A week at most.”“Because it could get you killed,” Sammy answered, dropping his hands down on his desk with a thud and looking back up at Ben. “Or worse. What would Emily do if you disappeared? Your mother? Me?”[Or: "I think love can bring anyone back... love can bring anyone home."]





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This fic is finished I'm just gonna post as I edit which will probably all be today.
> 
> Comment if you enjoy!! This is technically the last fic in the Main Series as I envision it but I have like.... 6 or 7 other shorter fics planned.

Ben walked into the office hesitantly, immediately setting Sammy on edge. He was used to Ben entering a room and immediately filling it with his excitement and enthusiasm. If Sammy didn’t know better, he would have assumed Ben was much younger than he was from the seemingly endless energy he possessed. Today was different - Ben had his shoulders hunched slightly as if to protect himself and he wasn’t making direct eye contact with Sammy.

“What happened?” Sammy asked immediately, tone harsher than he had intended when he couldn’t settle on ‘concerned’ or ‘admonishing’.

“Don’t be mad,” Ben said, circling the room to get to Sammy’s desk rather than crossing the center of it. He had to step carefully to avoid the overflowing bookshelves and stacks of cardboard filing boxes. 

Sammy tried and failed to catch Ben’s eye. “That isn’t a good start.”

“I’ve been sorting some of the files,” Ben started, finally reaching the chair on the other side of Sammy’s desk and sitting down, still not quite looking at him.

Sammy waited for Ben to continue, and only spoke up when it became obvious that Ben wouldn’t do so on his own. “I know? You practically begged me to let you make a new filing system.”

“I… found something.” Ben stopped again and Sammy sighed. 

“What is it?” he asked. “You have to actually use your words if you’re planning on explaining this to me.”

Sammy could hear more than see Ben’s leg bouncing, the soft tapping of his heel against the carpeted floor. Neither of them said anything.

“You don’t have to tell me,” Sammy continued at the same time as Ben finally spoke.

“I found Jack’s research.” Finally, with that, Ben looked up and met Sammy’s eyes. He looked worried and  _ exhausted _ , a hollowness to his eyes that Sammy wasn’t used to seeing and that sent a deep stroke of worry through his entire body.

“You can’t keep it going,” Sammy said quickly, hoping his tone would indicate that this wasn’t up for debate.

Ben laughed humourlessly. “Too late. I’m sorry, Sammy, I know it scares you and you’re worried, but - I want you to be happy, and that means getting Jack back! And I think I found something in his research to look at.”

“I know about Perdition Woods and - and the things in it, Ben,” Sammy warned. 

“But what about the shadows?” Ben asked quickly, as if that was a ‘gotcha’.

“I read through all his notebooks,” Sammy replied, rubbing his eyes tiredly. “I know about everything.”

Ben bit his lip. “In his notebook, the last one, he said he saw shadows in your apartment. What if there’s something there?”

“He was  _ losing his mind _ , Ben. He was seeing things that weren’t there, and half the time I don’t think he could see  _ me _ , standing in front of him.” Sammy dropped his head to his hands, elbows resting on his desk. “If you only found his notes, file them with the rest of the King Falls stuff. I’ve read it all.”

Ben was quiet for a moment. “Why can’t we just look, Sammy?” he asked softly. “Just go to King Falls and focus on it for a few days. A week at most.”

“Because it could get you killed,” Sammy answered, dropping his hands down on his desk with a  _ thud  _ and looking back up at Ben. “Or worse. What would Emily do if you disappeared? Your mother? Me?”

Ben sighed in frustration. “We can work together, keep each other safe. I just - I don’t think we should give up on this yet. We shouldn’t give up on  _ Jack _ yet.”

Sammy took a sharp breath. He wanted to say something about how he hadn’t given up on Jack, how he could never - would never. How he would keep searching until he couldn’t anymore, but he knew Ben wouldn’t be convinced by Sammy’s word alone, and he didn’t want Ben to get sucked in with him. “Fine. A week, no longer. I reserve the right to call it earlier.”

Ben jumped up and was back to himself all at once, the familiar energy returning. “You won’t regret it.”

He ran to his side of the office and Sammy sighed - sometimes, Ben reminded him too much of Jack and it scared him. Maybe he could take this as a last chance - if, after everything, they couldn’t find more about what happened to Jack, then it would be over, and Sammy would do what he had to with that. But if they found something… Sammy couldn’t let himself hope.

 

“We need some reason to tell people why we’re here,” Ben said as soon as they arrived in King Falls. “We can’t go under the radar because we’re gonna need to talk to people. And I already told my mom we were coming because she’d kill me if she found out I was in town and she didn’t know, so she’s probably told everyone that we’re on our way already.”

Sammy unlocked the trunk of the rental car and put their suitcases in. “You know I love Betty, but could you not have told her it was a secret?”

Ben leveled Sammy a look. “You think she’d let me? No. No, way. I haven’t kept a secret from my mom in my whole life - she’d never let me, she doesn’t believe in secrets.”

Sammy snorted. “That sounds like her. Can we not just tell people we’re visiting? Most people who would recognize us are our friends, anyway.”

“Is there anyone you want to tell the real reason?” Ben asked. “It’s entirely up to you, since this is - it’s your thing.”

Sammy pressed his lips together as he started the car. “Lily,” he said first, and Ben gave him a surprised look. “We might have our issues, but she deserves to be part of this. I want - I think we should tell Emily and Troy, too. Because I know you can’t keep your mouth shut around Emily.” Sammy looked over at Ben and smiled to show that he was joking, at least a little, but Ben still got red in the face.

“I wouldn’t say anything if you didn’t want me to,” he muttered. “I  _ haven’t  _ told her anything, because it’s your story.”

Sammy felt warmth in his chest and was surprised, as he always was, by how much he appreciated Ben and Ben’s friendship. He had come to love Ben more than he had expected to over the last year, and was surprised to have found a brother in him. “I wouldn’t be mad if you had.”

Ben nodded. “Do you want to tell her and Troy yourself, or do you want me to tell them, then? We can do whatever you’re comfortable with.”

Sammy felt a bit overwhelmed with the choice of it. Telling Ben about Jack had been hard enough, but if they wanted Emily and Troy’s help then they would need to know the context. He had never thought that he would need to explain his relationship with Jack to anyone who didn’t already know both of them, and he wasn’t sure where he would start. 

Ben seemed to sense his feelings. “You don’t need to decide right now - we can just call them to meet us at the library and play it by ear? If that’s what you want.”

Sammy took the temporary release and nodded quickly. “We can call Lily when we’re there and have her join us after. I don’t - she probably has her own commentary on the situation, and I don’t want to deal with it? At least right away - I’ll tell her that they know and hope she’s in a good mood.”

“Of course,” Ben agreed quickly.

Sammy turned up the radio, hoping to end the conversation. Emily and Troy had to know if they were going to help, and more than that - Sammy wanted them to know, because they were his friends. It didn’t make it any easier.

 

Emily was working when they arrived, but she got them a private study room and took her lunch break when Troy arrived.

“What’s up?” Emily asked cheerfully when she walked into the study room with Troy. “Do you guys have a new case?”

Sammy looked at Ben, who smiled at him reassuringly, and took a deep breath. “Sort of?” he answered. “It’s… a personal case.”

Emily and Troy both looked confused. “Are you here against orders?” Troy asked seriously, and Sammy shook his head.

“Not against - just without,” he clarified. “Our boss knows about it, and she’ll offer the support she can but… I can’t officially be assigned to this case, so there’s only so much she can do.” Emily and Troy were still looking at him across the table, because his answer had posed more questions than it had resolved. He licked his lips uncomfortably. “Before Ben, I had another partner. Jack Wright - Lily’s brother, she’s on her way, but… she already knows all of this, so.” Sammy paused. “We were partners for about ten years. Last January, something happened and he just - he disappeared. He was researching King Falls, and I just… I want to know what happened.”

“We’re going to save Jack,” Ben told them matter-of-factually. “We’re gonna figure it out.”

Emily was looking at Sammy sympathetically. “I’m sorry,” she said. “But - why can’t you be on this case? Isn’t this your department?”

Sammy nodded. “Technically, yes. Officially it’s just a missing persons case, but someone could make the case. Just not me, because Jack and I - we were engaged,” he admitted. 

Emily got up without saying anything and walked around the table to give Sammy a hug. He hugged her back awkwardly, still seated in his chair. “We’re going to help you, Sammy,” she told him before going back to her seat.

“We’ll do the best we can,” Troy agreed.

Emily’s phone buzzed and she pulled it out to check. “Lily just told me she’s here. I’ll let her know what room we’re in, then we can… talk about this more.”

Lily didn’t knock before walking in. She crossed her arms and leveled Sammy with a look. “Ben texted me to let me know you two were in town, to meet you here, and that it has to do with Jack,” she said. “Please justify this to me.”

“Sorry,” Ben replied sheepishly. “I could have probably given more context.”

“You could have,” she agreed, shifting her gaze to him, making him shrink back just a little.

“We’re gonna try to get Jack back,” Sammy interrupted, and he tried to ignore the rapid beating of his heart as he said it. He could feel Ben looking at him as Lily also looked back, because he’d only called this a research trip before - they were here to gather information, not to act on what they did (or didn’t) find.

“Jack’s dead.” Lily’s tone didn’t leave room for negotiation. “He’s dead, Sammy. I don’t know what stunt you’re pulling, or what delusion you’re living in, but he’s  _ dead _ .”

Sammy flexed his hand under the table, trying and failing to not get angry. “If you think that’s true, then what are you even doing here? How do you even  _ know _ about King Falls?”

“It was the only lead I had to find answers,” she bit out. “You weren’t talking to me, so I got the police report and the only thing I could figure out was that he had a stalker from King Falls. So I started from here.”

“He didn’t have a stalker -” Sammy started.

“Then explain the calls!” Lily interrupted. “You said, in your statement, that he was getting calls at all hours with weird noises and static. That sounds like a stalker, Sammy.”

“Can we all cool it?” Emily asked, standing up with her palms down on the table. “You’re both just trying to blame each other for something neither of you did, and you need to sit down. You  _ know _ that neither of you are responsible.”

Lily set her jaw but didn’t say anything, and Sammy looked down at the fake wood grain table top in shame.

Emily turned to Ben. “Is there anything that  _ you _ can tell us?” she asked.

Ben looked at Sammy, who just nodded at him. “Okay,” Ben said, voice switching from ‘concerned friend’ to ‘professional’ in a breath. He addressed Emily and Troy, ignoring the tension radiating from the other side of the room. “There’s not a lot of  _ facts _ with this case. The only information we do have comes from the notebooks Jack filled before - before his disappearance,” his voice faltered and he glanced over at Sammy, who was still sitting silently next to him, before he recovered. “There’s a lot of stuff in them. Starts off with General Abilene, Howard Ford Beauregard the Third’s book, and then it moves on to the white roses, and then he found out about Perdition Woods - and the Devil’s Doorstep.” Both Emily and Troy had an audible reaction to hearing that name spoken out loud, but Ben kept on talking. “He had some newspaper clippings of missing hikers over the last few years from before - well,  _ before _ \- and then he started looking at the shadows. That’s sort of… what we have right now. That’s our best guess.”

Troy turned to Sammy. “Is this why you asked me about Perdition Woods?” he asked, and Sammy nodded. “Did you ever call that number I gave you?”

“He told me that I shouldn’t keep looking,” Sammy said. “He wouldn’t really give me anything - just said it was too dangerous.”

“Sorry. I kinda thought he might be like that,” Troy admitted.

Sammy shook his head. “It’s fine. We just need to wait to have some information before talking to him again.”

“You could talk to Ron,” Emily suggested. “Mostly he knows about Kingsie, but he lives in the area around Perdition Woods. He’s sort of tuned into that stuff.”

Lily nodded. “He calls into the show sometimes - he believes there’s things going on there. I think this is all… it’s bullshit, frankly. But if you’re gonna waste the rest of your life tracking down shadow creatures, that’s on you.”

Sammy stood up abruptly. “I think we’re just gonna go.” He looked at Ben and nodded towards the door before stalking out, letting the door close heavily behind him.

 

Sammy knocked on the door to Begley’s Bait & Tackle. He and Ben waited for an answer, but the building was relatively small and they couldn’t hear anyone moving around inside. They both looked around the property awkwardly from their place on the porch.

“Do they have… regular hours?” Sammy asked.

Ben shook his head. “Ron lives above the shop - I think his business model is just ‘whenever he’s around’.”

Sammy looked around again. “Can we call? Do we -”

“Is that Ben Arnold?” a loud voice asked, and when Sammy turned to look he saw a man exiting the woods. “I haven’t seen you since you were-” he put his hand at about what height Ben would be, around his shoulder - “well. Haven’t changed much.”

Ben rolled his eyes good-naturedly. “How’ve you been, Ron?”

“Can’t complain,” Ron answered with a grin. “What’s brought you down to my shop? And who’s this you’ve brought with you?”

“I’m actually here for work,” Ben said awkwardly. “This is my partner, Agent Stevens.”

Sammy waved. “Nice to meet you, Ron. We only have a few questions - about Perdition Woods, mainly.”

“Yeah,” Ron said with a nod. “I’m not much help for anything outside of Lake Hatchenaw, here, but I’ll do what I can.”

Emily had said that Ron had some experience with… something, Sammy wasn’t entirely sure what. “We aren’t really looking into that, but I heard you knew something bout a ‘Kinsey’, right?” Sammy asked.

Ron paused. “Is that a gay joke, Stevens?” he asked seriously, and Sammy felt his brain short-circuit. “Just because I’m the only soul brave enough in this town to -”

“I’m gay,” Sammy interrupted quickly, before his brain could catch up, and he felt himself starting to panic before Ron laughed..

“Shows what happens when you assume. Kingise is her name,” Ron said, correcting himself. “She’s the local resident of Lake Hatchenaw.”

“Oh, so she lives… around the lake?” Sammy asked.

“I guess you could say that,” Ron replied diplomatically.

Ben lowered his voice a little, though it didn’t matter with Ron less than ten feet away from them. “She’s a lake monster, which is why I didn’t mention it before,” he told Sammy. Ben looked up to Ron again, speaking normally. “You’ll have to forgive him - he doesn’t really believe in this stuff.”

“Why are you looking into Perdition Woods, then?” Ron asked. “There’s stranger things than Kingsie out there, I’ll tell you that.”

“It’s official FBI stuff - business. It’s official business,” Ben said quickly. Ron didn’t look convinced, but he let it slide. “We’re interested in last year, specifically, just - anything highly unusual that’s happened in the last year, maybe even anything specifically around New Years last year. Not this most recent one - before that.”

Ron nodded along. “There’s always been weird shit happening around the Woods, but - it’s been worse in the last two years. I don’t go out after dark anymore, is what I’m saying,” he informed them. “Last summer, a hiker was found dead up by - by the Devil’s Doorstep. There’s been disappearances on those trails before, but this was the first body that I ever heard of turning up around there.”

Sammy felt his whole body go cold at the possibility. He wanted to say something, ask something, but he couldn’t make his mouth move.

“Do we know who that was?” Ben asked, seemingly sensing Sammy’s inability to function.

“Sort of,” Ron answered. “Her name was Caroline Vaughn - her family came and claimed the body, because she was from out of town. She’d apparently been missing for a couple days.”

Sammy felt a sick kind of relief twist inside him. What happened to that hiker was horrible, and he felt equally bad for what her family had been through, but - it wasn’t Jack. 

“I would think you two would want to talk to Walt,” Ron continued. “He knows more about all of this than anyone.”

“We already did,” Sammy said, hoping that his voice sounded more stable than he felt. “He wasn’t willing to offer much at the time.” Sammy felt his cell phone buzz in his pocket, and as soon as he saw the caller ID he excused himself and walked back to the rental car. “What do you want?” he asked, pitching his voice low and turning away from Ben and Ron.

Lily sighed. “I’m trying to help you, Sammy,” she replied. “I’m willing to look at any possibility right now, and I think I have something for you.”

“Since when? You weren’t willing to listen before.” He knew he was being unnecessarily aggressive, but it was hard with Lily.

“I talked to my producer to see if we had anything on Perdition Woods,” she explained. “She said that about eight months ago, we received a cassette tape. She listened to it at the time and it was just a hiker, saying all this stuff was happening in Perdition Woods, and it was all creepy. I just listened to it, and - well. You might want to come down here.”

Sammy took a deep breath, putting his free hand against the hood of the car. “Is it -”

“No,” Lily answered quickly. “It’s a woman, she gave her name as Caroline.”

“Okay. Okay, we’ll be right there,” Sammy replied. He hung up without saying goodbye and waved Ben over.

 

Lily set the cassette playing with no preamble. “The fact that this station even has a tape player says a lot about the tech budget here, but I guess it’s useful for this.”

They all listened quietly as the tape started to play and a woman’s voice came from the recording. She told the recorder that she was heading towards the Devil’s Doorstep, and there were increasingly worrying noises in the background as she got closer and closer. It went on like that for a while, and then she screamed, so close to the mic that they all jumped back from the speaker even separated by both time and space. The sound of it stopped suddenly, not as if she had been physically stopped but more as if the sound itself had been removed entirely from the recording. But that wasn’t possible, because they could still hear the noises of the evening around the recorder - bugs singing and wind blowing through the trees.

“Well, I didn’t need to sleep ever again, actually,” Ben said after a minute.

“That was…” Sammy shook his head. “Lily, why didn’t you ever listen to this before?”

She shrugged. “It didn’t seem relevant at the time. I had no context, it was just some weird unlabeled tape. I had my producer listen to it, and she said it wasn’t important.”

“Now we know for sure that Caroline died because of the Devil’s Doorstep,” Ben started, bursting with energy to figure out what they’d just listened to. “Where does that leave us?”

“I mean - we have to go there,” Sammy answered. “It’s the only way we’ll get more answers.”

“We’ll die if we do that,” Lily reminded him. “If we go in knowing what we know right now, which is nothing, then we’ll definitely die.”

“You don’t have to come,” Sammy said tersely.

Ben held up his hands, palms facing them as if he was keeping them at bay. “Let’s not do this right now, okay? She’s right, Sammy. We don’t know anything.”

Sammy tried not to slump back in his chair as he sighed. “We need more, then.”

“I could call Walt,” Lily offered. “Troy told me a bit about him after you two  _ left _ earlier, and I think he’s our best bet.”

“I already talked to him, why shouldn’t I call him?” Sammy asked.

Lily raised her eyebrows at him. “For all you know, he has your number blocked now because he thinks you’re gonna try and throw yourself into that place - which you  _ are _ , apparently. If I call him from my number, then he won’t recognize it and will pick up so we can ask him.”

Sammy and Ben shared a look. “Let’s do it,” Sammy said decisively.

Lily pulled out her phone and Sammy dictated the number to her. She put it on speaker phone and they listened while it rang, and rang.

“Is he gonna -” Lily started to ask, but she was cut off.

“Who is this?” Walt asked.

“Hi, Deputy Troy gave me this number,” Lily said quickly, the white lie coming easily. “My name’s Lily Wright, with King Falls AM? I just have a few questions about a hiker found dead in Perdition Woods last summer.”

Walt didn’t speak right away. “You shouldn’t be looking into that,” he warned.

“I’m not looking to cause trouble,” Lily said, and Sammy had to stop himself from making a derisive noise at that. “I just want to know what happened to her. Is there anything at all that you can tell me?”

“I don’t think I’m the person you should be talking to,” Walt replied.

Lily got visibly frustrated. “Then who?”

Walt just replied with an address that left Ben scrambling to write it down on his notepad, and then he hung up.

Ben googled the address quickly. “It’s about two hours away,” he announced. “It would be… pretty late when we got there if we left now.”

“We’ll go tomorrow,” Sammy agreed. He stood up and Ben followed his lead. “Thanks, Lily,” he said awkwardly.

She just nodded at him, so he left the room.

 

They let Emily and Troy know where they were headed before they left. The house was in northern New Mexico, away from any one town. It was an older farmhouse on a large property where no farming appeared to be taking place - there were clear-cut areas of field that were filled with long grass, and a barn that was falling over.

Sammy knocked on the door and waited.

“I wish we could’ve called,” Ben muttered after a few minutes.

Sammy tapped his foot. “I would say we should head back, but -”

The sound of soft movement from the other side of the door interrupted him. He heard light footsteps and then the clink of metal as the person opened the door only as far as the chain would let it. Inside the house stood a young woman, shorter even than Ben, who was watching them warily.

“Hello?” she asked, and her voice was quiet but raspy like she didn’t talk very much.

Sammy tried to give her his most reassuring, pleasant smile, and saw that Ben was doing the same thing. He was acutely aware that they were two men, Ben easily over ten years older than her and Sammy himself even more, who’d just shown up at her private home. “Hi,” he said softly. “We got your address from Walt, do you know him?”

She closed the door but didn’t slam it, and then Sammy heard the soft jingling of the chain being taken off and the door opened wide. “Come in,” she said, turning around and walking into the house.

Sammy and Ben looked at each other and Ben shrugged, so they followed her in. She led them to a spacious and sparsely furnished living room. There was a couch, a chair, a coffee table, and not much else. No identifying possessions, nothing that seemed personal. 

The woman was already sitting in the chair, so Sammy and Ben both took spots on the low couch.

“Why did Walt send you to me?” she asked. Her voice wasn’t quiet anymore, more full and confident now that she had some idea who they might be, but the raspiness was still there.

“Well, I’m Agent Stevens, and this is my partner, Agent Ben Arnold,” Sammy said. “We’re with the FBI and we’ve been looking into things around Perdition Woods.”

She nodded. “What do you want to know?”

“Can we start with who you are?” Ben asked. “What’s your name, and why did Walt send us to you?”

“I can’t pretend to know why Walt does the things he does,” she said with a small smile. “But my name’s Debbie, and I killed Caroline Vaughn.”

Sammy felt himself freeze. “What… do you mean by that?”

“I didn’t  _ technically _ kill her,” Debbie reassured them. “I was in the Void, and she stumbled in. So I grabbed onto her and got through the opening she made with her flashlight. I got out and she couldn’t find her way.”

Ben took a deep breath. “I have a lot of questions. First, what’s the Void?”

Debbie looked confused. “You don’t really know anything, do you? The Void is where the shadows live, and if the Shadowmaker chooses you then that’s where you go.” She sighed when she saw their expressions. “The Shadowmaker is a very evil man - or, entity, I’m not really sure if he is or ever was  _ human _ . He controls the shadows to some extent, and has some control over the Void, which is exactly what it sounds like. It’s a void in reality - just… darkness, thought, memory. It isn’t tangible.”

“How did you end up there?” Sammy asked.

“I was hiking, like Caroline. Like most people in there,” she drummed her fingers against her thigh. “I found the Doorstep, and the Shadowmaker must have decided he’d rather keep me trapped in a nightmare than kill me.”

“Do you know if anyone was ever taken from… farther than inside the Woods?” Sammy asked cautiously.

Debbie nodded. “People from around King Falls, but - there were only ever four or five people that I was aware of at a time. Mostly hikers from out of town, people who wouldn’t be missed.”

Sammy paused and took a deep breath, trying to keep his heart from beating out of his chest as he asked what he needed to. “Did you ever come across anyone who was from farther away than that?”

She nodded again. “You have to understand, we can’t really talk to each other in there. It’s like… thoughts and feelings govern it. Mostly I was all alone but… between the memories sometimes there was like, this waiting room almost. It was just an empty space, just - haziness. Like when you’re walking through fog on an early morning, you can barely see your hand in front of your face. But, yeah, just before I got out there was someone I saw in there who asked if he was in Virginia.”

“Can you tell me anything about him?” Sammy asked quickly, leaning forwards. “Anything at all - did you see him? Did he give you a name?”

“All I could tell was that he was taller than me, but…” she gestured to herself, her feet barely brushing the floor. “Probably about your height, but I can’t tell the difference. He said -” she paused, closing her eyes for a second. “I think he said his name’s Jack.”

Sammy sucked in a breath and felt all the blood go out of his face. He wanted to ask something more, but he couldn’t. He couldn’t feel his face, couldn’t find the air necessary.

“Is that who you’re looking for?” she asked, eyes piercing Sammy in a way that made him want to get up and leave.

“Yes,” Ben confirmed for him. “Thank you. But - can you tell us anything more about how you got out?”

She nodded, still looking at Sammy. “I don’t know if you’d be able to replicate it. I barely understood it in the - the confusion of the Void. I was in the waiting room, and all of a sudden I saw light - there’s no light in there, so I followed it. I found Caroline, so I - I grabbed her shoulder, I think, I’m not sure. But I took hold and stepped into the light. I think she screamed and dropped the flashlight because then the beam of it wasn’t moving, and I just… just followed it out. I got far enough that the moon was glowing and I knew I was out.”


	2. Chapter 2

Sammy and Ben called everyone to the library the next morning. Emily wasn’t working, but it was a convenient central point that was much more comfortable than the motel room that Sammy and Ben were renting. They told them everything that Debbie had said about the Caroline’s death and her own escape.

“So the key is light?” Lily asked when they were done.

“It seems that that’s how she got out, yeah,” Sammy confirmed. “But it didn’t help Caroline much.”

“She was… behind her own flashlight, though,” Emily said, looking contemplative. “She was technically always in the shadows.”

Ben nodded. “That’s true, but if being ‘in the shadows’ is what can kill you, then how is Debbie alive?”

No one answered right away. Sammy could feel a horrible thought start to roll through his head.  _ How do we know Jack is still alive? _ It had been well over eight months since Caroline had died, and Debbie had said she’d seen Jack only once before then, so it had been much longer since Jack had been seen ‘alive’ in some capacity. There was no guarantee that he was still there, still savable. The only comfort Sammy had was that Caroline’s body had been found, it hadn’t stayed in the Void forever, and Jack’s hadn’t. It was a small comfort, but Sammy had to cling to it.

“It’s about choice,” Troy said, startling everyone out of their thoughts. “The Shadowmaker, or the Void, or whoever, chose Debbie, not Caroline. It treated Debbie like she was supposed to be there, and Caroline wasn’t.”

Lily nodded but she didn’t look happy. “That means there’s no way for us to get in. None of us are  _ supposed _ to be there.”

Ben started to say, “But if we use a lot of light -”

“We don’t know if that would’ve saved Caroline,” Lily interrupted. 

“I wish we could talk to her,” Sammy muttered. “If we could just  _ ask _ Caroline what happened to her, we could just… not do that.”

Lily raised her eyebrow at him and was about to say something when Emily cut her off. “This might be a reach,” she said cautiously, “but I know of… someone who could help with that. Have any of you heard of Olivia du Pont?”

Ben looked at her. “The pet psychic?” he asked, seeming surprised that she would suggest it. “How can she help? Last I checked, Caroline was a human.”

“Olivia told me once that she’s actually a general medium - human and animal - but she just has no patience for human spirits,” Emily explained. “I think we could convince her to help us, though.”

“A medium?” Sammy and Lily both said increduly, and then glared at each other.

“I barely accept this whole - Void thing,” Lily said. “I don’t think I  _ do _ accept it, but I  _ definitely _ don’t accept mediums.”

“I can only vouch for my own experience with her,” Emily replied. “She knew about my childhood cat, Dinah.”

“And my sugar-glider,” Ben interjected.

“You had a pet sugar-glider?” Sammy asked, surprised.

Ben shrugged. “Long story, but I can vouch for Olivia as well.”

Lily put her hands up in defeat. “Okay. Let’s go visit her.”

They all agreed, but Troy had to get back to work so the four that remained piled into Sammy and Ben’s rental car to headed to Olivia’s shop in Big Pine. 

 

Olivia’s shop was over a vet’s clinic. The door that Emily directed them to was almost plain except except for the word  _ Goldenowl _ written in a swooping, purple script. Even that took up very little space on the door, and if it weren’t for the colour making it stand out from the beige tones of the brickwork that made up the buildings around it, it would have been very easy to miss.

Emily didn’t bother knocking, she just opened the door up to a tight, carpeted stairwell. The door at the top of the stairs was much more intricately decorated, fully painted a dark purple with shimmering gold script reading  _ Olivia du Pont - Animal Medium _ , and the on the bottom half of the door there was a small hook with an hours sign on it indicating that the shop was open and she should be inside.

She pushed the door open, and the clear sound of a bell rang out to announce their arrival.

“Hello!” a cheerful voice greeted them from inside. “What can Goldenowl do for you today?”

Olivia looked a lot different than Sammy had expected. Somewhere in the back of his mind, reinforced by the interior doors’ decoration and his own preconceived notions, he had expected an older woman cloaked in robes and heavy jewelry. While the room was very much what he expected, with heavy drapes hung unnecessarily on the walls and a round table with a dark purple tablecloth that went all the way to the ground, the decoration of taxidermy and bones was a little unexpected. Olivia herself didn’t appear to be much older than Sammy, and was dressed in jeans and a t-shirt.

“Emily!” Olivia said excitedly, getting up and walking over to give her a hug. “And Ben! It’s been so long. What’s brought you in? And who are your friends?”

Emily quickly introduced Sammy and Lily to Olivia, not making any mention of Sammy and Ben’s job. Sammy wondered if it was because Olivia already knew, since she knew Ben, or if it was something he shouldn’t mention, and decided to err on the side of caution and not bring it up.

“We actually came in to ask a favour,” Emily replied, already looking apologetic. “We have a bit of a problem, and the person we think can help us is - well, she’s dead.”

Olivia nodded seriously. “You  _ know  _ I prefer to communicate with animals over the… messiness of humans.”

“I know, and I wouldn’t ask if it weren’t important,” Emily said quickly. “It’s  _ really _ important that we get to talk to her.”

There was an uncertain twist to Olivia’s mouth. “I can’t guarantee that I can let you have a  _ conversation  _ with her. If you give me some information, I can channel her, but I am unpracticed with humans and cannot promise that she’ll be able to hear you.”

Emily was nodding before she finished. “I understand completely. Whatever help you can offer will be appreciated, Olivia.”

“I told you, you can call me Goldenowl,” she replied, her smile softening. Sammy couldn’t tell if she was being sarcastic or not.

Olivia led them over to the round table in the center of the room and motioned for them to take a seat. 

“Are we supposed to hold hands?” Sammy asked Ben quietly, and noticed Lily roll her eyes.

“That’s just for show,” Olivia replied, and Sammy felt himself go red at being caught even though she didn’t sound offended. “We’re all friends here, so I’ll skip the whole performance if that’s alright. Can you tell me a bit about the person you’d like to contact?”

Emily gave Olivia the details they knew about the hiker - her name and that she was probably killed by the Void, and Sammy felt himself get a little twitchy at the open discussion of the paranormal even though he recognized the irony of that feeling when in a medium’s shop seeking her help. Of course Olivia would believe them about the Void and everything surrounding it.

Olivia closed her eyes and took a deep breath, then started to let out a series of animalistic noises on the exhale. “I’m looking for the spirit of Caroline Vaughn,” she announced to no one in particular, and responded herself with a series of barks. “I don’t think you can help me right now, but we can talk later.” Sammy looked over at Ben awkwardly, but Ben was watching Olivia intently. “Caroline,” she repeated. “Caroline, if you can hear my voice, please respond. I have people who wish to speak with you and could use your help.” She hissed and her face contorted angrily. She shook her head violently, dislodging a few hairs from her already fairly messy ponytail, and her expression turned peaceful again. “No time for that,” she chastised. Her eyes started to move rapidly and flutter, but remained closed. She cocked her head to the side as if listening to something. “Hello?” she asked, voice soft and beckoning. “Come closer.” Olivia sat completely still with her head held at an angle while the table watched. “Hello?” she repeated, but all of a sudden the voice was not her own. The accent was the same, but the inflection had changed - it was higher, more uncertain and frightened.

“Caroline?” Ben breathed.

“Do I know you?” she asked. Olivia jerked her head so that she was facing towards Ben, eyes still closed. “Why is it so dark?”

“I don’t think so,” he replied, ignoring her second question. “My name’s Ben, and here in the room with me are my friends Sammy, Emily, and Lily. You’re speaking to - or, through, maybe - Olivia right now.”

Lily looked as if she wanted to object to being called a  _ friend _ but realized it was neither the time nor place.

“I can’t see you. Why do you want to talk to me? Where are my parents?” Olivia’s eyebrows drew in, and her lips started to turn downwards.

“They’re fine,” Ben reassured her quickly, though he had no way of knowing that. “I don’t want to cause you any distress but - do you remember your last hike? We want to talk about it.”

Her frown was more pronounced now. “Why is it so dark?”

“The lights are out,” Sammy lied, cutting in because he wasn’t sure Ben wouldn’t say something upsetting. Olivia’s face jerked towards him, now, and he had to keep himself from reeling back. “I’m Sammy. Do you remember your last hike, Caroline?”

“Yes, I - maybe?” she answered. “It was… Perdition Woods, King Falls. It was really hard. Did I-” she shook her head quickly.

“You’re right, it was,” Ben said. 

“It was dark then, too,” she continued. “It was still light when I left, I thought there would be enough light, but then - then it was so dark.” She shivered so violently Sammy was worried for a second that Olivia was going to fall out of the chair. “I got lost. I could feel the trees but I couldn’t see them. Why is it so dark? I looked at my compass and it was just - it was spinning, around and around and around and -” she shook her head again. Her speech was speeding up, breathing becoming slightly shallower. “It was just spinning. And my flashlight, it was like - it could only show me things right in front of me, and it was just - just darkness. Something - someone - touched my shoulder and then… Why is it so dark?”

“Open your eyes,” Emily suggested softly from Olivia’s right.

Olivia’s eyes snapped open and Sammy couldn’t stop himself from pushing back from the table this time. Everyone else did, too, because Olivia’s eyes were completely glazed over. Gone where the warm brown - the irises and pupils had gone completely monotone grey, as if there was a dust-covered film on them.

Her breathing hitched up to a worrying speed and her an expression was one of pure fear, mouth hanging agape and eyes wide. “Am I dead?” she asked breathily, and before anyone could ask Olivia collapsed forwards onto the table.

Emily was fast enough to get her hands under Olivia’s head before it hit the table and she checked her pulse. “She’s okay,” she announced shakily.

They looked at each other around the table, awkward and shaken by what they had witnessed. It wasn’t long, though, before Olivia started to stir and pushed herself up. 

She sighed and opened her eyes, brown once again. “What happened?” she asked. “I heard Caroline in the distance and then -”

“It was like she took over,” Lily said with a tone of clear disbelief. 

Olivia nodded. “This is why I don’t deal with humans,” she said tiredly. She turned to Emily and put her hand on her shoulder. “Did she tell you what you wanted to know?”

Emily turned to Sammy and Ben who both nodded at her. “I think so.”

“Good,” Olivia said with a tired smile. “If you don’t mind, I think I’m going to take a nap.”

They all stood up. “Of course,” Emily replied. “Thank you so much, Goldenowl.”

_ Not a joke _ , Sammy noted.

“Always lovely to hear from you, dear,” she replied, patting Emily’s shoulder twice and then using it to push herself shakily to her feet. Everyone else followed her lead and stood up.

“Thank you,” Sammy and Ben chorused, and she just smiled at them and nodded before turning to go to a backroom of the shop.

 

“We should just go,” Lily said in the car. “Right now, just go.”

“And what?” Sammy retorted. “Get lost and die? We still don’t know what to do.”

Lily scowled at him. “I don’t think we’re  _ going  _ to find out! Caroline doesn’t even know she’s  _ dead _ .”

“We just can’t get lost,” Emily said.

“How do you suggest we do that?” Lily asked with a scowl, and Emily visibly bristled.

Emily took a deep breath and didn’t rise to anger. “We keep each other close,” she said. “We could - hold hands in a line, or tie a rope.”

“A rope might work,” Ben agreed. “Hands-free so we can hold flashlights and whatever else?”

Emily nodded. “Yeah. A long one with a few feet between us so we can go far.”

“How would we keep our bearings, though?” Lily retorted. “If we  _ all _ get lost, then we’re all just lost and we die. It doesn’t change the outcome if our corpses show up tied together.”

“We could ask Debbie what she thinks,” Sammy suggested. 

Lily looked as if she didn’t like that idea, but she didn’t say anything so Sammy ignored her. Ben agreed with him and dialed the number Debbie had given them, putting the phone on speaker. 

“Hello?” she said, picking up quickly.

“Hi, Debbie,” Ben replied. “We were just talking to Caroline, and-”

“What?” she interrupted, confused.

Ben realized his mistake. “Through a medium,” he clarified.

Debbie didn’t reply right away. “Okay,” she said slowly. “Sure. You were talking to Caroline through a medium. And?”

“She didn’t remember much,” Ben continued. “She told us that she got lost, then you showed up, and that’s all she really remembers. We need a little advice from that - I’m sure you know by now that we’re trying to get someone out of the Void, and we think we need to go in to do that-”

Debbie interrupted again. “I would suggest you don’t - consider them lost and move on. But go on.”

“That’s not really an option. Do you have any idea how to not… get lost?” Ben asked.

Debbie took a deep breath. “What you need to know is that the Void is just… thought. Your worst thoughts but it’s still just  _ thought _ . It uses memories to construct itself, and then twists them into the worst possible version. It ties in nightmares you’ve had, all your anxieties, and presents that for you. You can pull something into existence if you concentrate on it long enough, but it’ll be twisted up.” She sighed. “I don’t remember being taken, but I wasn’t hiking. I was in my bedroom, and I just blinked and suddenly everything was different. It still looked like my bedroom but it  _ felt _ like I was in one of those fun-houses with the tilted floors and mirrors. That’s what it’s like - everything you remember, tilted on its axis and with the lights turned off.”

“So if we focused on the person we want to find, that would help?” Sammy asked, trying to keep his focus on the road.

“I don’t know,” Debbie admitted. “I never knew anyone else who was  _ there _ , so I never tried that. I could make memories of my parents, but…” she trailed off and didn’t speak for a moment. “It twists things, so I stopped.”

“We were sort of planning to tie ourselves to something,” Ben told her. “So that we’d have some sort of grounding.”

“That might work,” Debbie said, though she sounded uncertain. “I don’t know if I can help you from here. I can’t convince you to not do it, and I don’t… I don’t really know how to stay safe. You won’t be safe - there isn’t really a way to keep everything good.”

“It’s okay, we know. Thank you for your help, Debbie.” Ben said goodbye for them all and hung up.

“We should just go,” Lily repeated from earlier. “What’s stopping us from just doing this now?”

“The sun’s going down in just over an hour,” Sammy informed her. “It would be completely down by the time we got there, and that’s just… it’s too dangerous.”

Lily set her jaw. “You heard her - it’s dangerous no matter what we do!”

“But we can help some of it. We can give ourselves the best shot we can,” Sammy answered.

Lily crossed her arms petulantly and sat back. “Okay, so what? We wait until tomorrow and go?”

Sammy nodded. “I think it’s our best chance. We should call Troy, also, see if he can to help.”

They all agreed to meet at the trailhead to head up to the Doorstep the next morning, and Sammy dropped Lily and Emily off at their respective apartments. They called Troy when they got back to the motel and he said that he could pull some strings to come with them the next morning.

 

Sammy barely slept that night. Every time he started to drift off, he’d see Jack’s face in the distance, just out of reach. He managed to fall into a restless sleep, but woke up feeling exhausted. When he and Ben got breakfast at Rose’s, he drank three cups of coffee before he even started to feel the buzz.

They met up with Lily, Emily, and Troy just after ten in the morning and made the long hike up the mountain.

It wasn’t just the physical exertion that left Sammy breathless when they reached the Devil’s Doorstep. The knowledge that this was it, it was now or never, coursed through him. The thought ran on a loop in his head.

When they did reach the clearing, Sammy realized immediately that there was something different. The Doorstep had been shaded before, but the space around it was nearly black. He could no longer see through the archway clearly - where before there had been nothing, now there was a sheet of old glass. It warped Sammy’s view of the trees behind it, obscuring them slightly.

“I’ll go first,” Sammy announced, leaving no space for debate in his tone.

Lily looked like she wanted to argue with him but stopped herself. “Then I’m second.”

Emily took a long rope out of her backpack and a handful of carabiners. She handed Sammy the rope and he tied it around his waist before handing it to Lily, who hooked one of the carabiners through her belt and threaded the rope through that. Ben followed her, then Emily, and finally Troy, who was the biggest of them so it was agreed he would be the anchor.

Sammy walked cautiously over to the Doorstep and, at the last moment, looked back. He caught Ben’s eye, who gave him a shaky smile and a thumbs up. Sammy took a deep breath, turned on his flashlight, stepped forward -

\- and was engulfed by the blackness.

It was warmer than he had expected, almost humid. He could see the beam of the flashlight but it wasn’t illuminating anything. It even cut through the ground beneath him as if it were air, but when he took a step he was still held up. Sammy turned the flashlight behind him, hoping that he’d be able to see Lily at least, but where she should have been was just more nothingness. The rope wasn’t pulled taught, but he was comforted slightly by the fact that it was still at least suspended. There was still something on the other end.

Something tugged on the rope twice and then he could finally see Lily behind him, farther than should have been possible but visible nonetheless. He almost smiled in relief, but the feeling was undercut by the darkness pulsing around them. Sammy had a moment to see a look of fear on Lily’s face, and then she was gone again, and the rope fell to the ground at his feet, the end torn and frayed like something impossibly strong had ripped it.

His flashlight seemed nearly ineffective now - he could tell it was still on, but he couldn’t see any beam in front of him. Sammy felt the panic rising in his throat and closed his eyes. He tried to remember what Debbie had told them and pictured his living room. In his head, he put Jack on the couch, facing away from him as he stood in the front doorway, and all their picture frames were back in the right places.

Sammy felt his ears pop uncomfortably and the humidity lessened slightly, so he opened his eyes and looked around to see his living room. Outside the windows there was only darkness and, for the first time in over a year, Jack was standing in front of him, looking just as surprised as Sammy felt.

He wanted to rush over to Jack, to prove to himself that he was real, but he felt rooted to the ground. 

“What’s going on?” Jack asked. His voice was rough, and Sammy almost felt the need to sit down at the emotions coursing through him on hearing Jack speak again.

“I don’t know anymore,” Sammy admitted. “We had this whole plan but I think everything’s gone wrong. I don’t know.”

Jack looked confused and apprehensive. “Who’s ‘we’? And a plan for what?”

“Me and Lily, and some other people, but I can explain that all later. We came to get you  _ out _ of here,” he explained quickly.

“That’s not -” Jack shook his head, eyebrows drawing in. “That’s not possible. You can’t be in here.”

Sammy felt something desperate growing in him. “But I am. You have to trust me, I’m here.”

“You  _ can’t _ be,” Jack repeated. “I try to keep you out of here, I don’t think about - about you, or our apartment, or work. I don’t want you to be here.”

Sammy sucked in a breath. He knew that Jack didn’t mean it, not the way Sammy felt it pierce his core - he knew Jack wanted him to be safe. “And I want you to be out of here, too.”

Jack closed his eyes tightly and rubbed them. When he opened them again, Sammy could see the desperation brewing. “Tell me something only Sammy would know,” he begged.

Hearing the horrible, broken tone coming from Jack made Sammy wanted to shake something loose in the universe because of what the Void had done to him, but he couldn’t. He could only stand there in the facsimile of their living room and watch. 

“Do you remember when we renovated the guest room to make your office?” he asked, and Jack nodded slowly. “Do you remember why?” Another nod. “We’d been living together for six months and you kept bringing case files into the bedroom,” Sammy started, and he could see them back there, over ten years ago. “I hated it so much. I would try to fall asleep but you’d have the light on just pouring through these files. You wouldn’t lay down with me, and I just wanted to hold you while I fell asleep.” Sammy felt a wry smile curl it’s way around his lips and when he met Jack’s eyes there was a light there that spurred him on. “I said -”

“You said ‘if you keep bringing files into bed then I’m getting out’,” Jack interrupted, the ghost of a smile under his eyes. 

Sammy smiled back at him. “Yeah. And you threw the file out the door - just… you just chucked it. Papers went flying everywhere and you just said you’d get to it in the morning, but that I was more important than any case.”

“I promised,” Jack replied, and his voice was choked. “I promised you.” His shoulders sagged and started to shake and  _ God _ it was the opposite reaction to what Sammy had wanted. Finally, he managed to unstick himself and he rushed over, stopping just short of wrapping his arms around Jack, unsure of how corporeal either of them were and not wanting to find out. “I promised and I let you down - I let it suck me in.”

“Jack, it was out of your control,” Sammy assured him. “You couldn’t have stopped it. Neither of us could have. I just want you to come home.”

Jack’s smile returned but it still didn’t reach his eyes. “You  _ are _ my home, Sammy. Remember Colorado?” He looked up at Sammy and his face was surprisingly dry but he looked desperate again. 

“We’re in Colorado,” Sammy told him. “We’re in King Falls right now.”

“Are we?” Jack asked. “Not important. But - Denver. When you worked in Denver. Remember?”

“I wish I didn’t. That was the worst summer of my life,” Sammy replied.

“Mine, too,” Jack admitted wryly. “When I went to see you, I didn’t have a case. I came to Colorado to just see  _ you _ because I was fucking dying alone in DC. I would leave your apartment and go to a coffee shop down the street for eight hours.”

Sammy reached out, hand hovering over Jack’s shoulder. “We weren’t even dating yet,” he pointed out.

Jack nodded and straightened his shoulders enough to brush the palm of Sammy’s hand, and Sammy marvelled at the solidness of the contact. Sammy opened his mouth to say something, and paused when it looked like Jack wanted to speak, too. They stood like that for a moment, looking at each other, so close but not quite touching - the only point of contact was Sammy’s hand on Jack’s shoulder.

With no warning, the roof started to buckle over them and flakes of the ceiling rained down around them. Sammy only had that second of warning before the roof itself collapsed in on them, but it was all he needed to get his arms around Jack and tuck his head into Sammy’s shoulder.

 

It was too bright when Sammy came to. He blinked his eyes open, squinting against the sunlight, but realized that he was facing the ground. When he looked, he saw Jack laying underneath him, and he didn’t know how to name the feeling that rushed through his whole body. He wanted to laugh, or cry, but he did neither. Sammy kept still for a moment, trying to listen to the world around him, and felt Jack’s ribs moving under his.

Jack’s face was gaunt and there were deep bags under his eyes, but then he stirred and looked up at Sammy. The smile on his face was the only thing that Sammy had needed to see for too long.

Sammy heard movement around them and looked around to see Ben and Emily a few feet away, just starting to push themselves up. Lily was closer to them and when she saw Jack she let out a strangled noise that Sammy couldn’t identify and crawled over to them in what was probably the least dignified move Sammy had ever seen her make. She threw herself half on top of Sammy so that she could also hug Jack.

Behind them, Troy cleared his throat, and Sammy craned his neck awkwardly to see him. 

“Sorry, that was sort of - my fault,” he said, leaving Sammy confused. “The rope broke and I was worried so I just…” he gestured to the archway, or - where the archway had stood, because now there was just rubble. “I threw a flare in.”

Sammy felt a laugh bubble up in him and when he looked back down, Jack was smiling, too.

“I can’t believe this is real,” Jack said quietly. “I can’t believe I’m really here.”

Sammy reached up, propping himself up on an elbow, and ran his fingers through Jack’s hair. “It is, though. You are here. You’re finally home.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Emily's cat is named after Alice's cat from Alice in Wonderland.
> 
> I don't apologize for the deus ex machina nature of this. Or the corniness. None of us are here for the plot ok least of all me!


	3. Epilogue

Sammy finished tying Jack’s tie - an ugly geometric pattern that Jack loved and Sammy pretended to hate - and smoothed his lapels.

“Are you sure you want to do this?” Sammy asked again. “Because we can just turn around and go home. Just say the word, any time you want.”

Jack laughed and reached up to cover Sammy’s worrying hands with his own. “Yes, I’m sure,” he repeated. “I want to do this. I think I need to.”

Sammy still had a worried twist to his mouth so Jack leaned forwards and kissed him. Sammy leaned into it, and Jack reached up to run his hands through Sammy’s hair. 

“I’m sure,” Jack repeated when they pulled apart, and Sammy nodded, taking Jack’s hand as they exited the apartment together.

 

They were stopped every few feet by coworkers welcoming Jack back from his ‘leave of absence’ - that was the official story they’d come up with, with Reagan’s help. It seemed as if everyone had missed Jack, everyone was glad he was doing better. If they notice that Sammy didn’t let go of Jack’s hand, no one said anything.

When they finally made it through the gauntlet to the elevator, Jack leaned heavily into Sammy’s side, closing his eyes for a moment. Sammy shifted so his arm went around Jack’s shoulders and he turned his face so that his lips touched the side of Jack’s head.

“You know,” he muttered, “we can still go back home.”

Jack laughed lightly. “And go back through that? I wouldn’t survive.”

“We’ll find a back way - we could go through a window,” Sammy joked.

Jack shook his head. “No. I need to do this. If not now, when?” He stood up again and Sammy moved his hand back into Jacks’.

They walked down the familiar hallway together until their old office door came into sight and Jack paused.

“It’s not -”

“I’m doing this,” Jack interrupted.

Sammy squeezed his hand. “I’m really proud of you, you know.

Jack rolled his eyes affectionately. “I think I gathered that from the last thousand times you said it since I decided to go back to work.”

“And I’ll keep saying it until it stops being true,” Sammy said. “Which will be never.” He leaned over to kiss Jack again, but was interrupted by Ben’s voice from down the hall.

“You guys are so cute!”

Sammy looked over and saw Ben peeking out from their office door.

“I was just looking to see what was taking so long,” Ben continued. “But it’s fine, carry on, don’t mind me!”

The office door slammed shut with a heavy noise and Sammy couldn’t help but laugh, and Jack joined in with him.

Jack leaned down to give him a quick peck. “We better not keep him waiting.”

Sammy rolled his eyes. “He needs to learn to be patient.”

Jack moved away, tugging Sammy with him, and Sammy went with false reluctancy. As soon as Jack crossed the threshold of the office, he transformed - taking on energy, like something was finally filling his body back up to the far reaches of it. Sammy let go of his hand and let Jack do a sweep of the office, looking at the new files and the way Sammy had left his desk.

Sammy couldn’t help the smile that came with seeing Jack seated at his desk again, Jack in his element. And Ben was right there with him, launching into a conversation about something that Sammy couldn’t follow - probably the continuation of something they’d been discussing over the last three months, since Ben had come by their apartment nearly every day.

He walked over to his old desk, unused in the corner over the last year and a half, and sat down.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Like I said in the opening notes, this kind of signifies the end of what I consider the 'main' series. I might put a timeline up in the series description later.
> 
> But, I am planning a bunch of future fics, time stamps, over sorts of things for this series bc I uh. Love it. So. You can read what's up now as a complete entity, is what I'm saying - there's nothing 'missing' from this story.
> 
> Also! Please leave a comment if you enjoyed this!


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